by Debbie Mason
“We’re home! It’s a Christmas miracle!” Ty, as Ty, stood in the doorway with his arms flung wide and an ecstatic expression on his face. Before she could take it all in, he ran to her, lifting her up to spin her around. Mid-spin, she spotted Grayson helping his grandmother up the steps, the older woman obviously upset. Cat wasn’t thrilled to see her either, but she was delighted to see the man at Estelle’s side. She returned Grayson’s smile, but her own fell when she spotted her sister trudging through the snow to the front door with George and Molly.
“What the hell?”
Without setting her on her feet, Ty walked her through the house whispering, “Our flight was grounded. It doesn’t look like anyone will be flying out for the next couple of days, and there’s no room at the lodge.” He lowered his voice, “Grayson’s staying undercover while they’re here. He thinks it works to our advantage. Keep your enemies closer and all that.” They heard Estelle sobbing in the foyer. “Oh, and Fluffy’s carrier got put on the last flight by mistake. Grayson’s trying to reach his cousin to pick her up at the airport.”
Well, at least Cat’s slippers were safe. She couldn’t say the same for her sister.
Grayson gave Cat a sweet-mother-of-God look as he walked his grandmother to the couch in the great room. “She’ll be fine, Estelle. Jamie just texted that he’ll be there when the flight lands. Yes, we’ll call, and you can talk to her.”
“I need a drink,” George said, brushing a thick layer of snow from his hair as he walked toward the fireplace.
“If we have to be stranded, I’ll take this over the lodge or the airport. Nice digs, Cat.” Molly smiled and followed George into the great room.
When Chloe appeared, Cat prepared herself for a cutting remark, but her sister pulled out a stool at the island and sat down. She cast a nervous glance over her shoulder, then turned back to look from Ty to Cat and whispered, “You won’t protect me from them, will you? Everyone hates me. No one cares anymore if I live or die.”
Cat was done with the drama. She couldn’t bring herself to sympathize with her sister, but Ty did. Ever since he’d read Chloe’s yearbook, he’d developed a soft spot for her. “Even if your sister hates you right now, she’ll protect you. That’s what she does. Right?” He nodded, and kept nodding until Cat reluctantly agreed. “See?” He smiled at Chloe. “And you have me and Grayson to look after you, too.”
“I guess you’re right.” She looked at Cat from under her clumped false eyelashes. “I’ll be safe with Grayson here. At least I won’t have to sleep alone.”
“Of course you won’t be sleeping alone, Chloe. Ty or Estelle can bunk with you,” Cat said sweetly.
Chloe stared at her and opened her mouth, but didn’t get a chance to voice what Cat assumed would be a heated objection as Grayson entered the kitchen. He slid an arm around Cat’s waist and drew her close. “Hi.” He smiled down at her, lowering his head to give her a brief but warm kiss. “Sorry for not giving you a heads-up. I lost cell service.”
He angled his head, a slight frown furrowing his brow as his grandmother handed Molly and George each a glass of wine. The actor and actress stood by the window in the great room, but Grayson lowered his voice anyway. “As far as George and Molly know, none of us suspect they had anything to do with the attempts on Chloe’s life. We’re playing it as if Sam acted on his own. So no more talking about the case when they’re around.”
The front door opened. “It’s just me,” a familiar voice called out. It was Easton.
“I called him before I lost service. He’ll be staying here. Don’t worry, Gage assigned another deputy to Sam.”
“No change?” Cat asked.
He shook his head, his hand tightening at her waist. “Another day or so and this will be over, love.”
“I hope so,” she said, leaning into his strong, protective embrace.
“You hope it will be over? I’m the one in danger, not you. Honestly, since when did this become all about you, Catalina?” her sister asked in a fierce whisper.
“You wanna tell me again why I agreed to do this?” Easton—water dripping from his dark hair, the heavy scruff lining his jaw iced with snow—looked at Grayson and Cat as he limped into the kitchen and dropped a duffle bag by the island.
Cat grinned. “Because you want to keep me safe.”
Easton chuckled.
“I hate you all,” Chloe said, and got up from the stool. She started to walk away, then pivoted. “My bags are in the entrance.”
Easton quirked an eyebrow. “And?”
A loud bang drowned out Chloe’s response, and then the lights went out. Four people screamed: three female and one male. The screams were followed by one thud, and then another.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cat shivered, pulling the covers over her bare shoulder. “Remind me why we have to get up again?” she asked, playfully rubbing against Grayson.
He placed his hand on her naked backside, drawing her closer, providing her with the evidence that he didn’t want to get out of bed any more than she did. “For starters, I don’t trust GG not to drug George and Molly again.”
Cat laughed. “Not that your grandmother and I see eye to eye on much, but slipping her sleeping pills into George’s and Molly’s wine wasn’t a bad idea. At least we didn’t have to worry about them last night.”
He still couldn’t believe GG had done it. He certainly didn’t buy her excuse she was distraught over her and Fluffy’s separation and wasn’t thinking straight. Her second reason, that she wanted to protect Chloe, was a little more believable. But more likely than not, it had something to do with the movie she and Chloe had been discussing on the drive back to Christmas.
“You’re right, we didn’t,” he agreed with Cat. “But now we have to come up with a reason for them passing out. Otherwise, they’ll think someone is trying to kill them. Which could end up with the innocent party calling the police.”
“Or the guilty party will have something else to accuse me of.” She thunked her forehead against his chest and groaned.
He chuckled and stroked her hair. “Don’t worry, if it comes to that, I’ll throw GG under the bus.”
She pressed her warm lips to his chest. “You’re my hero. So what’s the other reason we have to get out of bed, because that one didn’t really work for me.”
“Okay, how about this. Whenever Easton is around your sister, he looks about this close”—he held his thumb and forefinger a quarter inch apart—“to strangling her. What’s the deal with those two?” He didn’t actually care all that much what was going on between Easton and Chloe. He supposed he would if he thought Easton would act on his urges, but he didn’t. What he did care about was the past between the man and Cat. It was obvious they had one. The guy cared about Cat, and Grayson wanted to know if that was something he needed to worry about.
He’d meant what he said about moving to Colorado. He was ready for a change. And thanks to the woman lying in his arms, he was ready to take their relationship to the next level. He wanted her in his life. Whether that led to marriage was a question for another time. It was still early days. But he’d finally met a woman he could see a future with, and he wasn’t about to let anything or anyone stand in their way.
She glanced up at him, then pulled back. “It’s more what’s the deal with the three of us.”
“Should I hear this dressed and with a drink in my hand?”
“No.” She gave a half laugh, then shook her head. “The way people around here talk about it, my mother and sister included, you’d think it happened last week, but Easton and I dated in high school.”
“Were you together a long time?” He propped himself on his elbow.
“Two years. A long time for teenagers, I suppose. I didn’t know it at the time, but Easton planned to propose the night of our senior prom.”
“Would you have accepted?”
“Probably. But I wouldn’t have been accepting for the right reasons. Our families were clo
se, and I wouldn’t have hurt either them or Easton by saying no. Maybe Chloe did us all a favor.”
“Ah, so your sister was involved with the breakup.”
“Oh yeah, she was involved. And it took me a while to forgive her. I don’t think Easton has.” She turned on her side to face him. “Up until grade twelve, Chloe had a difficult time in high school. Easton protected her as much as I did. He felt sorry for her. But Chloe mistook his sympathy for something else. She’s always been a bit of a dreamer. The little girl who wanted to be a fairy princess. Easton was her hero, her knight in shining armor.
“The summer before our senior year, I hardly saw her. She was busy reinventing herself, becoming the queen who’d win the prom king. And when she couldn’t win him as herself, she decided she’d win him as me.”
“You had no idea?”
“None. When Easton started missing our dates, I figured he was busy with football practice, or school, and I didn’t want to make a big deal about it and come across as the needy girlfriend. Plus I was busy, too. But then things got a little weird. He’d bring up books and English assignments we’d supposedly talked about that I had no memory of and no interest in. Around that time, I’d fallen from the pyramid during cheerleading practice and I began to think I had a traumatic brain injury.”
“A cheerleader,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her, trailing his finger down her side and over her hip. “That explains why you’re so flexible.”
She smiled, showing off her dimple. “No, that would be from Tae Kwon Do, not cheerleading.”
“What level do you have?”
Her dimple deepened. “Black belt, fifth dan.”
Could the woman get any hotter? “If I wasn’t already falling in love with you, that would have done it.”
“You’re easy.”
He smiled. He wasn’t. “Okay, continue your story. I’m guessing it didn’t have a happy ending.”
“No, it didn’t.” Her cheeks pinked. “Easton and I, we, uh, we were never intimate. So one night when he started to, well, anyway, I slapped him across the face. He couldn’t understand what he’d done wrong since…” She shrugged.
“Since he and Chloe had done the deed.”
“Right. Everything came out then. It was awful. Chloe had convinced herself that Easton knew it was her. Easton was furious. He said some really hurtful things to Chloe. She was devastated. She pleaded with me to tell Easton that I’d been in on it.”
“Cat, you didn’t?”
She winced. “I did. I was stupid and young and hurt. You don’t know what it’s like to be an identical twin, Grayson. To know that even your own family can’t tell you apart from your sister. I thought Easton out of anyone should be able to, and I was angry that he couldn’t.” She raised her hand to her head. “I chopped off my hair that night.”
“Were you angry at me when I thought you were Chloe?”
“Yes, and no. With you, I was pretending to be my sister. And you made it up to me that night.”
“I’d know you now, even if you were impersonating Chloe.” He traced her brow. “Your right eyebrow has a higher arch than your left, and you have more yellow flecks in your irises than your sister.” He drew the tip of his finger down her nose. “And your nose doesn’t turn up at the tip as much as hers.” He caressed her cheek. “Your cheekbones are sharper, more defined.” He turned her face and kissed her dimple. “And your sister’s dimple isn’t as adorable or as pronounced as yours.”
He trailed his fingers over her body, lowering his head once she began to moan. “I know you inside and out. I love the heart of you, Cat O’Connor.” He lifted his head. “And love, your sister needs professional help.”
* * *
Cat took the rifle from the locked case in the den, loaded it, and checked the sight. She looked up at him and laughed at what he imagined was the entranced expression on his face. “It’s not funny. You know what it does to me when I see you with a gun. Let’s go back to bed. GG and Molly are having a nap. George is playing chess with Easton, who, by the way, is a bloody genius. And your sister and Ty are pulling out enough Christmas decorations to stock a department store.”
“And we need a tree to put the decorations on. This was your idea, remember? You wanted something to keep everyone busy.”
“Yes, to the keeping everyone busy part, but no to the decorating. That was Ty.” He did an imitation of the other man clapping and saying Oh my God.
“You missed your calling. You should have been an actor.”
He shuddered. “Not if my life depended on it.” He responded to her raised eyebrows. “You have met my grandmother, haven’t you? My father was an actor, too. As was my mother and my wife.”
She blinked. “Your wife? I didn’t realize you were married.”
He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and nodded. “It was a mistake. I was twenty-six and she was twenty-three. GG adored her. Something I should have thought about, but I was young and in love. We didn’t have anything in common. She wanted a big, glamorous life, and I wanted a simple one. She hated that I worked for the Bureau. We lasted three years; six months of which were relatively happy. I came home one day to find her in bed with her leading man.”
“I’m sorry. That’s awful.”
“It would have been worse if there were children involved.” He took the gun from her hands. “And I wouldn’t have met you.”
She went up on her toes and kissed him. “Have I told you lately how happy I am that you’re in my life?”
“Not today.”
“Well, I am. So let’s go get that tree, and then I’ll show you just how happy you make me.” She took her gun back, hooking the strap over her shoulder.
“Love, you do realize about six feet of snow has fallen since last night, don’t you?”
“We’re taking Easton’s snowmobile, and I’ve got snowshoes. But don’t worry, we’re not going too deep into the back country.”
“So why the gun?”
“Neighbors south of us saw a cougar three days ago.”
“There’s never a dull moment in Christmas, is there?”
“Not since you got here there isn’t.”
* * *
A wave of nostalgia washed over Cat as she took in the familiar wreaths, garland, and icicles hanging from the windows. Ty and Chloe had spent the entire day turning the house into a winter wonderland. It looked the same as it did every Christmas when their father had been alive. Their mother hadn’t truly gotten back into the spirit of the holidays until two years earlier. Cat hadn’t been home then, and last year Ethan and Skye’s Christmas Eve wedding and their daughter’s birth had taken precedence over decorating for the holidays. She glanced at Chloe, who handed Ty the last pillar candle. As he placed it on the mantel with Chloe looking on, Cat wondered if her sister felt the same. It was hard to tell. Chloe wasn’t speaking to her and had avoided her all day.
Ty clapped his hands after he lit the candle, looking like he’d just been awarded a Daytime Emmy for set design. The candle’s flickering flame joined that of the thirty others he’d placed throughout the room. “It looks beautiful, Ty,” Cat said from where she sat between Grayson’s legs on the bearskin rug in front of the fire.
Ty and Chloe had found the rug in the closet in the den. Deacon O’Connor, their father, had been an avid hunter, his animal trophies hidden away when Ethan married animal-activist Skye. They’d have to be sure to pack the rug away before her sister-in-law visited. Not that they were expecting her anytime soon. The snow hadn’t let up, and the power hadn’t come back on. They had a gas stove and an outdoor ice chest they’d transferred the food into, so it wasn’t like they were going to starve.
And if they weren’t currently under the same roof with her sister’s would-be assassin, Cat would have been enjoying herself. Actually, she was more than enjoying herself with Grayson. Despite the stressful circumstances. She let herself relax against him, smiling up at him. He tweaked her hair and whispered in
her ear, “Can we hurry this along? I’m tired and want to go to bed.”
“It’s nine o’clock.”
“All that fresh air and tree cutting wore me out.”
“Really? You had lots of energy when we were feeding the horses.” She gave a teasing wiggle to remind him just how much energy he had in the barn.
“Careful, love.”
“Single people here,” Ty called out as he fiddled with the radio. “Stop flirting. You’re making me jealous.”
“Ty’s right. It’s nauseating and annoying.” Her sister grabbed a blanket and curled up on a wingback chair. “When’s Easton coming back with the milk? I want some hot cocoa.”
Since they had no contact with the outside world, Easton had used the milk as an excuse to check on Sam. With the weather conditions, Cat was more worried about the length of time he’d been gone than the milk.
“It’s just as good with water, Chloe,” Cat said.
“All right, fine. I’ll have it with water.” She looked at Cat, obviously expecting her to get up and make it. When she didn’t, Chloe threw off her blanket and walked off in a huff.
“Good girl,” Grayson said, patting her thigh.
He laughed when Cat called out, “I’ll have one, too, Chloe. Thanks.”
Ty finally got something other than static on the battery-operated radio, and Clay Aiken singing “Mary, Did You Know?” filled the room. Ty pressed his hands to his chest. “Oh, I love this song. It makes me cry every time I hear it.” He started singing along with Clay.